Due to a mistake by TenneT, the planning of the ring road builder in Groningen is in the soup and many extra traffic controllers are needed around the Europaplein.
Rarely or never seen, and so motorists around the Europaplein in Groningen are amazed: there are ten to fifteen traffic controllers together this week.
The traffic lights have been switched off at all intersections in the area, including those to Europapark and the Zuid-Oost business park. Instead, a yellow brigade directs traffic in the right direction.
According to Bert Kramer of ring road builder Combinatie Herepoort, the traffic controllers will remain in operation until at least the end of next week. They flew in after the discovery of a sinkhole during work on the Europaweg.
Delay
The sinkhole was discovered in the Ascension weekend, when the road in the direction of Hoogezand was closed. It caused a lot of delay.
During a drilling, soil was sprayed away for an underground pipe, with this technique the street does not have to be broken up. But in this action, TenneT removed too much land, resulting in a sinkhole arose. This was discovered last weekend during the construction of a new cycle path. A vibrating machine sank into a hole. No one was injured, but now that hole must be closed first.
Herepoort halted part of the planned work and was unable to complete the planned work over the weekend. The road did open on Monday, but the promised cycle path is not yet ready and the traffic lights are not working either.
Still
If the busy approach road to the city center closes again this weekend (the long Pentecost weekend), then in the direction of the city, part of the work will still be carried out.
“But the new traffic control installation will not be ready until the end of next week,” says Kramer. The installation will be commissioned part by part from Friday 2 June. On Monday 5 June, traffic controllers will no longer be needed, the cycle path will open (and the cycle path along the Oude Winschoterdiep will be closed) and traffic flow will improve.
Road users will be faced with a blockage of the Sontweg from Tuesday: first two weeks between the Europaweg and Mc Donalds (Sontplein) and then another week over a greater distance on the Sontweg. All three weeks in both directions.
Brailleweg
The Brailleweg will reopen to all car traffic on Saturday. Motorists in the direction of Assen have recently made way for cyclists. They can cross the Munting Bridge again from Saturday. At the end of next week, road users from Drachten will again have two lanes at their disposal.